were free to roam the ring in a presidential debate that had president obama and mitt romney all but nose to nose on a couple of arguments. good morning, this is way too early, the 90 minute town hall forum last night featured yeses from a select group of undecided voters. shedding the sleepy image, the president came out sharp and energized. mr. romney, too, was aggressive often pushing his way past time limits to finish a point or answer a previous question. at times the two men stood just a few feet apart, on which refusing to allow each other the final word. they hit on topics ranging from jobs and health care to immigration and foreign policy, but it was an early question about energy that set the tone for the night. >> in the last four year, you cut permits and licenses in half. >> not true. >> so how much did you cut them by? >> by how much can you cut them by then? >> we've actually produced more oil --

>> no, how much did you cut licenses and permits on federal land and waters? >> here's what we can did. there were a whole bunch of oil companies -- >> i had a question and the question was how much did you cut them by. >> you you want knee answer, i'm happy to answer the question. >> proiks on private lands is down. >> no, it isn't. >> production of oil is down 14% and production of gas is down 9%. >> just not true. >> i don't think anyone really believes that you're a person pushing for oil and gas and coal. you'll get your chance in a moment. i'm still speaking. and the answer is i don't believe people -- >> you asked a question. >> that wasn't a question. that was a statement. >> turns out both are true in part. the energy department says sales from oil at federal areas dropped 14% due largely to the administration's moratorium on offshore drilling after the sgufl oil spill. despite that dip, oil production from federal areas is up 13% since president obama took office. they also went at it over taxes and the deficit and about whose

plan ultimately benefits the middle class. >> we haven't heard from the governor any specifics beyond big bird and eliminating funding for planned parenthood in terms of how he pays for that. now, governor romney was a very successful investor. if somebody came to you, governor, with a plan that said i want to spend $7 trillion or $8 trillion and we'll pay for it but we can't tell you you you until maybe after the election how we're going to do it, you wouldn't have taken such a sketchy deal. and neither should you, the american people, because the math doesn't add up. >> if somehow the numbers don't add up, would you be willing to look again at 20% -- >> of course they add up. i was someone who ran businesses for 25 years and balanced the budget. i ran the olympics and balanced

the budget. i ran the state of massachusetts as a governor to the extent any governor does and balanced the budget all four years. when we're talking about math that doesn't add up, how about $4 trillion of deficits over the last four year, $5 trillion. that's math that doesn't add up. we have a president talking about someone's plan in a way that's completely foreign to what my real plan is. >> the most tense moment of the debate came during a question about the deadly attack on the american consulate in benghazi libya. a day after secretary of state hillary clinton took responsibility for the deaths of four americans there, the president declared last night at will debate that he is ultimately responsible. and while looking his opponent in the eye, the president said he does not play politics on matters of national security. >> while we were still dealing with our diplomats being threatened, governor romney put out a press release trying to make political points.

and that's not how a commander in chief operates. you don't turn national security into a political issue. >> does the buck stop with your secretary of state as far as what went on here? >> secretary clinton has done an extraordinary job, but she works for me. i'm the president. and i'm always responsible. and that's why nobody's more interested in finding out exactly what happened that i am. the day after the attack, i stood in the rose garden and i told the american people and the worlded that we were going to find out exactly what happened, that it was an act of terror and i also said that we'll hunt down those who committed this crime. and the suggestion that anybody on my team or the secretary of state or u.n. ambassador, anybody on on my team would play politics or mislead when we lost

four our own, governor, is offensive. that's not what we do. that's not what i two do as president. >> governor romney followed up and that saw candy crowley getting involved. >> i think it's interesting the president just said something which is that on the day after the attack, he went in the rose garden and said that this was an act of terror. you said in the rose garden the day after the attack it was an act of terror. it was not the a spontaneous demonstration, is that what you're say something. >> please proceed, governor. >> want to make sure we get that not record because if took the president 14 days before he called the attack an act of terror. >> get the transcript. >> did he in fact, sir, so let me call it an act of terrorism -- >> can you say that a little louder, candy? >> he did it call it an act of terror. it did as well take two weeks or

so for the whole idea of there being a riot out 24r about this tape to come out. >> well, we did get the transcript and here's what president obama said on september 12th, the day after the tack "the world must stand together to unegively reject these brutal acts. no kt as of fror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation. alter that character or kree clips the light of the values that we stand for. critics of the white house question why then if the president did call it an act of terror in the rose garden the day after administration officials would continue to say for several days and weeks afterward they believed the attack was triggered pby protess stemming from the video posted on youtube here in the united states. and while the president in the first debate notably made no mention of mr. romney's 47% comment, last night the president found an opening. >> i think the president's campaign has tried to characterize me as sbon who is very different than who i am. i care about 100% of the american people.

i want 100% of the american people to have a bright and prosperous future. i care about our kids. i understand what it takes to make a bright and prosperous future again. i spent my life in the private sector, not in government. i'm a guy who wants to help with the experience that i have the american people. >> i believe governor romney is a good man. loves his family, cares about his faith. but i also believe that when he said behind closed doors that 47% of the country consider themselves victims who refuse personal responsibility in think about who he was talking about. >> and with us now, mark halperin, co-author of the book game change. he's up early with us and this morning we'll stand a little closer than we did yesterday, make it a more intimate affair. let's look right away at your report card. president obama gets a b minus

from mark halperin, a c for mitt romney. explain the grades. >> this debate was the biggest rorschach test i've seen since doing these grades. you have people including focus groups and polls that go one way, go the other. i think part of my grades are based on performance, part based on how it affects the race and the chances the person has of winning the contest. i thought governor romney lost for two reasons. one is the libya exchange. i think that was an issue where he thought he'd be on offense. i thought his answer was weak. the president's was very strong. the other main reason is what has mitt romney's problem in this campaign all along some when someone gets inside his head, when someone connects his policy proposals with his personal background, when someone says you're a rich guy, you've got all these bank accounts, you tonight understand the real lives of real people and he gets rattled, he's losing when that happened and i thought that happened repeatedly. president obama was aggressive

and controlled the discussion. in the the last debate, governor romney and to some extent the moderator's discussions controlled the discussion. in this debate without a doubt almost every exchange the president rhetorically won. he looked engaged and cared about winning. he looked like he cared about serving four more years. stylistically, i think he did some smart things. for instance, he took some of his biggest shots at romney based on the format of the debate where governor romney couldn't respond without breaking the rules or using the time for the next question to go back which never looks good. i think the president had a strategy rather than last time. >> you mentioned the libya moment. even conservatives very frustrated, they thought that was going to be a huge opening for mitt romney and felt like he blew it. we laid it out a little bit there. the president did say acts of terror in the rose garden. it did mitt romney and his staff just blow that. >> he didn't explicitly refer to

the attack as a terrorist attack rather than using the phrase in general. because remember, there was a lot going on in egypt, as well, at that time. the reason i think that's such a bad moment for governor romney is this is one of the big issues they hope to pursue to prosecute through election day. i think he's so fumbled it and conservatives were frustrated, he may not get a chance to revisit it. either in the next did debate next week which is solely on national security where it's expected benghazi and issues related to it to be a big deal, but even on the campaign trail. in the wake of the defining moment and debates are about defining moments on libya, it may be that that's now out of the arsenal of the republicans which is again along with the economy they were really counting on. >> and we know what the impact of the first debate was, changed the race. lasting impact of this one in. >> if you talk to the republicans, they say despite some of the commentary and some of the surveys that show the president slightly winning, this is going to help the republicans with women. that is their claim and that's a big issue, a big factor.

takes the narrative away and the narrative is a big part of can obama survive the debate to where do where he stand in the battleground states. i don't know whether that debate will roll back numbers or not in the polls. >> and next week after the debate you and i will stand almost shoulder to shoulder. >> maybe touch elbows. >> mark, thanks so much. by the way, you can e-mail me at way too early@msnbc.com. i want to know what you thought of last night's dedate. still ahead, turns out when you can't put the bat on the ball, you won't win a lot of playoff games. the yankees stay ice cold against detroit's justin verlander and now can start making tee times for the weekend. highlights ahead in sports. and hold on just a minute, we have an update on soup kitchen gate. word that dishes paul ryan washed at an ohio soup kitchen

dirty after all. that story and a check on weather when "way too early" comes right back. the collapse came at the worst possible time. evening rush hour. police said they can confirm only six fatality, but feared at least 100 were dead crushed when the top layer of the freeway collapsed into a hoer level.

picture at 5:45 in the morning. the traffic on the road already in d.c. good morning, bill. >> chilly start in the northeast, but the big story is in the middle of the country. that's where we'll have severe weather today. we windy and this mess is

heading for minneapolis and chicago. the big storm is now forming over the top of nebraska. if you're on the east coast, it's a chilly morning with a decent afternoon. as far as what we're dealing with severe weather-wise, this area of yellow, slight risk of severe storms. it won't be widespread, but where we to see the severe weather, we could skocould see l storms. as far as what we're dealing with rain wise, also light rain this morning from toledo to cleveland, probably one of the wettest drives out there is interstate 80 across northern ohio. forecast for the northeast after the cold start this morning, a pretty nice afternoon. slightly warmer and a few more clouds. mid-60s isn't bad for this time of year. florida could get complete rain ap shower light rain and showers, but it's the middle of the country with windy conditions and thunderstorms late today.

western half the country is look at a nice day. 94 in los angeles today. some areas still dealing with summer heat in the west. >> thanks so much. let's turn to sports. this is the daily news. quitting time for the new york yankees. and the big chill. they were in detroit, desperate for a win in game three after falling down two games to none at home. they face the unenviable task of trying to get that win against justin verlander, the reigning mvp. yankees benched a-rod again. didn't much matter. new guys didn't do any better. verlander looking good. did not allow a base runner until the fourth inning.

young puts the tigserses on the board with a solo home run. seventh career postseason home run for young as a tiger, the most in franchise history. two on batters later, hughes looking uncomfortable on the mound. training staff come out to check on him in the fourth inning and he leaves the game with a stiff back. runner on second for cabrera. the triple crown winner delivers with a double. run comes all the way around to score. tigers give verlander a 2-0 lead to work with. top of the ninth, same score. eduardo n eduar eduardo nunez. finally the bats come to live, but was it too late. two outs now in the ninth. runners on on first and second. a strike outis the final out of

the game as tigers win 2-1. now up three games for none in the series with two more to play. yankees have gon thre three strt games without ever having a lead. yanks try to avoid the sweep oon in detroit.c sabathia to the hill to save their season. with the yankees on the brink of elimination thanks to that offense, a-rod and his $30 million a year contract have been a particular source of frustration for fans. the laterest fan to weigh in, the done ald. yesterday pulling no punches. >> i think he's a liability to the yankees. $30 million a year and he strikes out every time he comes up in a playoff game. >> as as a businessman, what do you do with that? >> i would terminate his contract personally. i think george would have done that. i would terminate his contract on the bases that when he signed, he didn't say that he took drugs.

he actually admitted that he took drugs. so now he's not taking drugs anymore and without drug, he's less than average. >> trump said he's never been a fan of a-rod and had a, quote, bad experience with him when a-rod lived in trump world tower. coming up at the top of the hour on "morning joe," a big night on on long island last night. the presidential candidates go toe to toe in their second debate. we'll kick around the big moments with our "morning joe" crew. and when we come back here, we'll huddle up around the water cooler to talk about how mitt romney single handedly made the term binders one of the most tweeted topics in the world. [ man ] ring ring... progresso

this reduced sodium soup says it may help lower cholesterol, how does it work? you just have to eat it as part of your heart healthy diet. step 1. eat the soup. all those veggies and beans, that's what may help lower your cholesterol and -- well that's easy [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

the next question is for you -- >> he got the first question, so i get the last answer on that one. >> actually in the follow-up, it doesn't work like that. but i'll give you a chance here, i promise you i'm going to. and the next question is for you. so if you want to continue on, but i don't want to leave all these guys setting here. we're going move you both along to taxes. >> cnn's candy crowley took an active role last night attempting anyway to keep the

capp candidates on top. crowley joins martha raddatz as the secretary female moderator, but the first to moderate ard shal debate if quite a while. tell your friends candy crowley is the first woman to moderate a presidential debate since carol simpson presided over a town hall style debate between president grneorge h.w. bush an bill clinton. nuenough with the real news. let's talk about binders and as they relate to women. the school supply not to be confused with the trapper keeper is gaining notoriety and fame after mr. romney responded to a question about inequality for women in the workplace. governor romney recalled the

time he was selecting cabinet members while governor of massachuset massachusetts. >> i mad thad the chance to pul together the cabinet and all the applicants seemed to be men. and i went to my staff and said how come all the people for these jobs are all men. they said these are the people that have the qualifications. and i said, gosh, can't we find some women that are also qualified? and so we took a concerted effort to go out and find women who had backgrounds that could be qualified to become members of our cabinet. i went to a number of women's groups and said can you help us find folks and they brought us whole binders full of women. >> binders full of women. that comment became one of the most single most tweeted comment of the debate. should be note that had during mr. romney's time as governor of massachusetts, women made up 14 out of his first 33 senior level appointments according to women's groups in the state of massachusetts. now an update to paul ryan's

visit to a soup kitchen. we told you yesterday he was accused of going in and washing clean dishes. the charity's president now says he was mischaracterized in a "washington post" piece that started and you would this reporting that the republican vice presidential nominee did nothing during his appearance there. but the charity's president tells nbc news congressman ryan did in fact clean dirty dishes that had been set aside by soup kitchen volunteers. and now america you can rest easy. still ahead on "way too early," why are you awake? your tweets and texts are next. jack, you're a little boring.

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or help doctors turn billions of bytes of shared information... ♪ into a fifth anniversary of remission? ♪ whatever your business challenge, dell has the technology and services to help you solve it. we asked for e-mails. tower, what have you got? >> i'm up way too late having not slept since obama's tour deforce performance. and tiffany, still up wondering whether willie can join the man